Murder Most Foul

I didn’t watch “60 Minutes” on June 7^th and doubt I’ll tune into the program again. How could I bear to view what little remains of America’s most-watched TV news program? How return after the sacking of veteran journalists?

By now most of us know about the disgraceful deeds of the new CBS regime. We’ve read about firings and ousters. Correspondent Scott Pelley is the latest casualty of the reign of Bari Weiss, who was placed atop CBS news after Paramount merged with Skydance Media. Skydance is run by David Ellison, son of Larry Ellison, one of richest people in the world and a buddy of President Donald Trump.

During a staff meeting, Pelley explained the fraught situation at a staff meeting. He told Nick Bilton, the newly-appointed executive producer, that Weiss “doesn’t love this place. She was brought in to kill ‘60 Minutes’ and she is doing exactly that.” Pelley must have known his accusation would have repercussions and it did. Pelley was promptly axed by Weiss and Bilton.

Other “60 Minutes” staffers had been fired previously. Among them were Sharyn Alfonsi, who reported conditions at Cecot, the notorious El Salvador prison; Cecilia Vega, the first Latina correspondent, and Tanya Simon, the former executive producer. Also leaving the show is Anderson Cooper, a “60 Minutes” correspondent for 20 years. Cooper resigned earlier saying he wanted “to spend more time with my young children.”

Protests about the program’s ransacking have been issued by two powerful unions, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America. WGA president Tom Fontana accused CBS of “a near constant level of editorial interference” as well as “a profound contempt for the journalistic profession.”

Although I didn’t watch “60 Minutes” last Sunday, I understand it resorted to reruns of  previously-aired stories. What remains of the “60 Minutes” staff are but three of the program correspondents, Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim.  While the three professed outrage over canning of their colleagues, they united in saying they’d stayed because they “didn’t want to see ‘60 Minutes’ die.”

In recent days, Stahl took time to meet with Skydance’s Ellison. Afterwards, she broke out the champagne saying he had assured her that “60 Minutes” will have editorial independence.

However, in light of Weiss’ and Bilton’s past performance, any reassurance seems a hollow promise. The public is unlikely to regain confidence after the purge of Pelley and the other veteran correspondents. Skydance is guilty of the most tragic crime of all, killing what we seek most in journalism: Trust.